Elizabeth "Bo" Black Family Fountain - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
N 43° 01.981 W 087° 53.935
16T E 426769 N 4764873
This is a popular cool-down spot on the Summerfest grounds in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Waymark Code: WM4AGT
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Date Posted: 07/29/2008
Views: 77
This interactive fountain can be found when you enter the Main Gate of Summerfest. This fountain is active during all summer events taking place on the Summerfest grounds.
Bo's face to grace festival fountain
Summerfest honoring former director
By TOM HELD
theld@journalsentinel.com
Posted: June 25, 2007
It will be possible once again to shout "Hey" to Bo Black at Summerfest.
The ubiquitous face of the festival for nearly half its 39 years has been etched into a piece of stone that will dedicate the children's fountain, just inside the main gate, to Black and her work.
The granite plaque attached to a concrete base standing 3 feet tall will be unveiled this afternoon, along with two benches placed next to the fountain.
When Summerfest opens its 40th Big Gig on Thursday, kids old and young will splash in the Elizabeth Bo Black Children's Fountain, named in her honor and in appreciation and recognition of her 19 years of service as executive director of the festival and Milwaukee World Festival Inc.
The non-profit corporation's board of directors selected the public dedication as a way to honor Black, who was dismissed from her post in September 2003, in an awkward ending to her career there.
"We thought it would be very appropriate to establish a permanent acknowledgment of her accomplishments and tenure," said Howard Schnoll, chairman of the festival board.
Still recovering from a stroke she suffered in February, Black will be unable to attend the dedication.
Her recovery has been slowed by complications and an infection, but Black has returned to her home in Scottsdale, Ariz., after several hospital stays.
In a short telephone interview Monday, she said it was "very nice" for the current Summerfest leaders to recognize her but called herself just a "spoke in the wheel."
Many of those who worked with Black during her tenure at the helm would disagree.
She wasn't just a spoke, but the hub around which Summerfest spun from a small event into the world's largest music festival, an 11-day extravaganza of song, fireworks, food and beer.
William Drew, an attorney and former Summerfest board member, said Black deserves much of the credit for the Big Gig's growth and the success of the ethnic festivals held each summer in the Henry Maier Festival Park.
"She was the voice and the face of Summerfest," Drew said.
Black displayed her marketing sparkle on her daily processions among the festival-goers, but her real talent was getting local business executives to open their corporate pocketbooks.
Persistently pushing for dollars, she increased the amount of sponsorships for Summerfest beyond $5 million a year.
"When Bo walked into the room, it was all over," said Patti McKeithan, who served as the Miller Brewing Co. vice president of public affairs throughout the 1990s. "You might as well just figure out where the money was going to come from."
Joan Urdan served on the Summerfest board during a portion of Black's tenure and said the recognition of her work was well-deserved.
"I think she was a celebrity, a Milwaukee celebrity, and that Summerfest was very much a part of her persona," Urdan said.
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